E-Comm Fail: Why Businesses Can't Get Their Online Act Together ...

Let's Go Shopping

by megan ?|? on October 10th, 2012 ?|?

There are moments I?m smacked in the face with the realization that there are many people in this world ? many powerful people ? people in charge, people who run businesses ? who have no idea how the internet works.

This past Saturday night, for example, Nox Communications, a previously obscure web hosting company, managed to annoy Americans on both sides of the political spectrum when they dropped the (e-)ball in spectacular fashion. Tasked with hosting the live stream of the ?Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium? debate between Fox News pundit Bill O?Reilly and Comedy Central star Jon Stewart, thousands (millions? I dunno) of people paid five dollars to livestream the event, only for Nox?s servers to crash under the ? seemingly unexpected? ? crush of viewers.

It boggles my mind (and many others, who complained loudly and often on Twitter and on Nox?s Facebook page) that the web host solutions company didn?t think, ?Hey, we should probably bulk up our servers in anticipation of this majorly-promoted event between two huge stars??

The Facebook page, by the way, has been turned to private. The company has no Twitter account.

Recently, I had a similarly frustrating experience with a web provider that made me go ? really? No one tested this?

It all started innocently enough. I just wanted to buy some new pants.

Sometimes I get it in my head that I want to try something for a season. Not a trend, necessarily, but just that I want to streamline my getting dressed in the morning process. Last spring, I wore almost exclusively skirts each day. Not dresses, not shorts ? just skirts with different blouses and tops. In the winters, I go for skinny jeans and wedge heels as much as I think I can stand it in the snow.

This fall? I got the idea: Fancy pants! I?m going to wear nothing but fancy, printed pants for fall!

Sure, this one?s a bit trendier. The pants I had in mind are ones that are not super flattering ? they gather in all the wrong places, making hips seem larger than they already are, and they end short ? longer than capris, but not quite ankle length. Are they super flattering? Maybe not, but I like the idea of them, and it seemed like a fun trend to try, and as someone who?s missed wearing sweats every day in college, I figured they?d feel like wearing pajamas to work.

When I?m not sure of a trend, though, I don?t like to dive in and invest too much too soon. Add to that my pure hatred for trying anything on in stores (there?s nothing more soul-crushing; I mean, really, do pants EVER fit you right in a dressing room?).

So to give my wallet a break, and so that no one might hear me softly sobbing in the dressing room, I figured I?d pick up a few cheap pairs online from Forever 21. Because a clothing purchase that clocks in at $20 or less is immune to buyer?s remorse or regret. Really, it?s a fact.

That?s how it happened that on a recent boring Wednesday night, I sign online, and shop, shop shop ? picking and choosing, finding and forgetting, comparing and contrasting. Should I go for the leopard or the Batik print? The faux silk or the poly-blend? Forty-five minutes later, I decide on the goods I want to buy ? five items all under my $20 trend limit.

Next step: hmm, register or go on as guest. I?ll register, I think. That should make it easier to track my package later; at least, that?s what it says right there on the screen. name?email?password. there, great. let?s do this.

{Wait, what? Empty? ARghhdlkjfkdjdsf}

?.Huh? Where are all my things? Where are my eight things that I just spent nearly an hour trying to find? my shopping bag is EMPTY. How aggravating.

I open a live chat with customer service because I?m in no shape to talk to a real human.

I explain my suddenly-empty shopping cart experience.

Evelyn, my robot chat customer service representative responds, ?Hmm, well that shouldn?t have happened. Your items should still be in your shopping cart.?

?I was thinking the same thing, Evelyn,? I say, hoping the sarcasm registers in the chat window. ?But here we are, and they?re not there. My bag is definitely empty.?

?What browser are you on? Ah! A good question. Now we?re getting somewhere. Maybe Evelyn can tell me some control+alt+revert password that will magically restore my shopping cart?s contents.

?Firefox.?

?Hmm, they should still be there.?

?Hmm indeed Evelyn. Hmm indeed.?

This useless back and forth continues for a few minutes, me telling her the situation, her telling me why it shouldn?t be the situation. Finally I ask her to simply pass along the information to her tech team, so that perhaps they can fix that pesky little glitch where everything a potential customer wants to buy from them disappears in a puff of lcd screen smoke. She gives me a ten percent off discount that, she notes, cannot be combined with any other offers.

I inform Evelyn haughtily (or at least, again, I hope it comes across haughty in the chat window) that I don?t need her paltry coupon apology. I am done shopping for the night and will be going to bed. She wishes me a goodnight. A little coldly I think.

Has this kind of e-comm epic fail ever happened to you?

Because it?s certainly not the first time it?s happened to me. It seems like so many retailers are unconcerned with pressure testing their e-commerce business. Maybe they just forget? All I know is I was so excited to buy new clothes. I was ready to pull out my wallet! But Forever21 wasn?t ready for me. And I?m still a little bitter about it.

Tell me:

Any great e-comm experiences? Any terrible ones? Tell me about them in the comments.

?

Source: http://stylegirlfriend.com/experiencing-technical-difficulty-online/

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